Occupy protesters chain themselves to St Paul’s pulpit

Four women from the Occupy London movement have chained themselves to the pulpit of St Paul’s Cathedral in London in protest at the Church of England’s refusal to stand up to the City and in solidarity with the members of Pussy Riot who were jailed in Russia for a similar stunt.

As the four women, all dressed in white, entered the cathedral to perform a ‘mic check’ and deliver a speech during Evensong, a banner displaying the message ‘throw the money changers out of the temple’ was unfurled on its front steps.

Tomorrow marks one year since protesters set up camp outside St Paul’s as part of the global Occupy movement when they were prevented from doing so in Paternoster Square.

Despite initially being sympathetic towards the demonstrators, the cathedral eventually won a court battle for them to be evicted in February. Prior to this, St Paul’s canon chancellor Giles Fraser quit in protest at the impending eviction.

The Very Reverend Dr David Ison, dean of St Paul’s, said he was conducting a prayer with a member of Occupy Faith, the movement’s religious wing, when the women entered shouting.

‘It will be a long cold night if they want to stay there. I don’t know what they want to do,’ he said.

‘I’m just sorry they have decided to do this, which makes it hard for members of Occupy Faith, who have been working together with us on something which is respectful.’

In a statement read out by the four women and carried on the website of Occupy London, the group said it wanted St Paul’s to ‘stop sitting on the fence and join the fight against rising inequality in the UK and beyond’.

‘In the fight for economic justice Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, but you invited them in and instead evicted us,’ the statement said.

‘Your collusion with the City of London Corporation led to our violent eviction on your doorstep. You testified against us which acted to uphold injustice and inequality that is growing by the day.’

The group continued: ‘St Paul’s Cathedral, you must stand up and be counted at this great trial of history. But you have denied us twice already.

‘Once when you closed your doors on us and watched on as praying Christians were dragged from the steps of St Paul’s and twice when you failed to act when we were gone.

‘Today we offer you a third chance.’

A message on Occupy London’s Twitter feed added that the protest was ‘in solidarity with Pussy Riot who were imprisoned for action in Moscow Cathedral’.

Five members of the female protest band staged a punk prayer in the cathedral in February, with three being jailed for two years after being convicted of hooliganism.

Yekaterina Samutsevic was recently freed on probation after her sentence was suspended, but Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are to serve out the remainder of their sentences in a penal colony.